Contact

Thursday, July 26, 2012

The newest latest episode of The Midnight Archive--Ronni Thomas' fantastic documentary series centered around Brooklyn'sObservatory--has
just gone live! Entitled "Dealing in the Obscure," it features Morbid Anatomy Library Scholar in Residence, star of TV's "Oddities", and good friend/partner in crime Evan Michelson waxing poetic on the pleasures of time travel through material culture, why some people are drawn to darkness, and her own uncannily beautiful collection.

To
watch the episode, simply press play in the viewer above. More on the episode, in the words of director/creator Ronni Thomas:

The Midnight Archive - Ep. 14 - Evan Michelson - It is a pleasure to have Evan Michelson, owner of the NYC epicenter of the odd 'Obscura Antiques' and star of Science Channel's "Oddities"' as a guest on our series. In what is certainly our most abstract and experimental episode, she quite eloquently puts into words why some of us are so drawn to certain objects, the dark, and the disturbing. Her house is, as she puts it, a literal library of the strange and esoteric. Each artifact houses a special story and emotion for its possessor. So enjoy a very psychedelic and surreal episode of the series and please make sure to like our facebook page for random tidbits of macabre history and events around the world! And be sure if in NYC or visiting to check our Obscura Antiques in the East Village - you will not be disappointed!

For
more on the series, to see any of the episodes, or to sign up for the
mailing list and thus be alerted to future uploads, visit The Midnight
Archive website by clicking here. You can also "like" it on Facebook--and be alerted in this way--by clicking here.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

My friend Herbert Pfostl--who is also the curator of the outstanding New Museum Bookstore and author of the wonderful To Die No More--has a lovely looking exhibition with artist Jon Beacham. Entitled "Last Things and Other Forms," it will be on view until this Friday, July 27th, whence it will be ushered out by a closing party from 6:30 to 10. Looks to be a lovely show. You can find out more by clicking here.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

At the Coney Island Museum in Brooklyn, the Phantom Creep Theater pays tribute to classic horror with its version of the spook show, a macabre entertainment popular in the early 20th century that weds Grand Guignol tradition with modern sideshow showmanship. Hosted by M.C.’s in the vein of late-night television horror hosts like Ghoulardi and Dr. Creep, the shows feature B movies, live music, old-hat magic and a total blackout in which a monster or phantom tears through the theater. --"No Rest for the Wicked, Undead or Ghoulish," New York Times. July 12, 2012

Tonight, at the Coney Island Museum, I hope to see you for "Phantom Creep Theatre: Lon Chaney Shall Not Die!", an ode to the 1950s spook show organized in part by friend and Midnight Archive creator Ronni Thomas. The night's series of performances, screenings and hijinx will be dedicated to the memory and work of Lon Chaney Sr., patron saint of classic horror, and will feature a live theatrical recreation of the lost 1929 film "Thunder,"which included "insidious carnies, murderous dwarves, [and] ravenous gorillas on the loose" and reputedly killed "the man of a 1,000 faces." In fine spook show tradition, there will also be an attempt to make contact
with the ghost of Mr. Chaney, a chance to meet the "Hypno Corpse," varied film screenings, live music, and many thrills and screams, all for only 10 dollars.

Set your faces to stun for THE UNHOLY THREE (1930), screened from a 16mm film print! This film includes insidious carnies, murderous dwarves, ravenous gorillas on the loose, Lon Chaney, Sr.'s only speaking role, and much, much more!

Experience a one time live theatrical recreation of the (lost) film that killed Lon Chaney, Sr.... THUNDER! No one has seen this gut wrenching, edge of your seat, golden era rail road drama, in over 80 years!! You can't see it anywhere, but the Phantom Creep Theatre stage!

These presentations and more are part of an entire evening celebrating the man of a 1,000 faces, the man who ceased to exist between pictures, the broken hearted clown who was born on April Fool's Day - Lon Chaney, Sr.!

Will you bear witness to COUNT MOLOCH and EK, as they attempt to make contact with the ghost of Lon Chaney, Sr., live on the Coney Island Museum stage?!?!

Entities known, and unknown, may leave the stage and roam the room in the dark. Will you be ripped from your seat, or frozen with fear to it?

"That's all there is to life: A little laugh, a little tear." - Lon Chaney, Sr.

The team that ran the original Silver Scream Spook Show at Coney Island, reunite for the first time ever on the stage that started it all! NYC's 8mm Movie Matinee, along with Atlanta GA's Silver Scream Spook Show, and the internet's own Midnight Archive web series, are throwing a gala summer-long series!

A spook show collaboration of colossal proportions in Coney Island! Ghosts materialize before your eyes! Monsters summoned from beyond! Strange creatures reach out at you through the darkness!

Including, but not limited to:

Golden era monster movies presented from 16mm film prints!

Live morbid magicians conjuring spirits that may run out into the audience to shake and shock you to your very core!

Each month is a DIFFERENT theme with NEW films, NEW gags, and NEW live hijinks! Collect ALL the memories and experiences!

You can find out more, and get tickets, by clicking here; tickets can also be purchased at the door. You can read the entire New York Times article about the event by clicking here.

Friday, July 20, 2012

I am very excited to read the new and wonderful looking book Dissection on Display: Cadavers, Anatomists and Public Spectacle by Christine Quigley, who many of you might best know as editor of the wide-ranging blog Quigley's Cabinet. I have not yet had a chance to read the book, but we are all in luck, as friend of Morbid Anatomy Bess Lovejoy--author of the forthcoming Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses--has kindly offered up a very detailed and thoughful review of the book special for the Morbid Anatomy blog.

Lovejoy's review follows; you can also find out more about the book--or purchase a copy of your very own--by clicking here.

Most of us have never seen a dead body, let alone witnessed the dissection of a cadaver. But for centuries in Europe, Britain, and America, public dissections were highly social occasions. In the candlelit, damask-draped anatomy theatre of 18th century Bologna, townspeople jostled medical students and high-ranking officials during a two-week-long dissection that took place as part of the annual carnival. In 16th century Britain, hundreds crowded around to watch the dissections of executed criminals. And in early 19th century America, the most fashionable strata of society (men and women alike) attended public dissections for a chance to “see and be seen.”

In her new book, Dissection on Display: Cadavers, Anatomists and Public Spectacle, scholar, author, and blogger Christine Quigley traces the hidden history of anatomists who perform for the public. Not all of the men she profiles are known just for their dissections: some, like 17th and 18th century Europeans Frederik Ruysch and Honoré Fragonard, did the dirty work in private, then displayed the exquisitely-crafted results to the public in the form of art and illustration. Many of the names Quigley profiles will be familiar to Morbid Anatomy readers, though others -- like Thomas “Mummy” Pettigrew, the 19th century London antiquarian who unrolled mummies to entertain his guests – may be fresh discoveries.

Using a series of thematically-grouped vignettes, Quigley explores anatomists as demonstrators, educators, collectors, showmen, and more. Some of the book’s most intriguing passages deal with the lessons that public dissections were supposed to impart: not just about the workings of the body, but the workings of God, and of justice. Even more than a chance to gain medical wisdom, public dissections were often promoted as an opportunity to witness the glory of God in the functioning of a corpse’s entrails. Sometimes they were also seen as a chance to exult in the final stage of punishment meted out to a criminal. The mutilation of the corpse was thought to deny the deceased a chance at Resurrection -- thus condemning him or her both in life and afterlife.

Quigley also touches on the racial and sexual undertones that have long troubled the study of anatomy. One of the book’s most disturbing sections profiles French naturalist and zoologist Georges Cuvier and his quest to uncover (literally) the mysteries that lay between the legs of Saartjie Bjartmaan, also known as the “Hottentot Venus.” Bjartmaan – a young Khoisan woman from South Africa -- entertained audiences in early 19th century London and Paris with the enormous size of her buttocks. Some whispered that Bjartmaan was also blessed with a similarly enormous labia minora, and like other scientists of the time, Cuvier was fascinated by such rumors. After Bjartmaan’s death, he detailed her dissection in a medical journal and preserved both her brain and genitals in greenish glass bottles outside his office. Thus the last shred of modesty that Bjartmaan had protected in life was unceremoniously stripped from her in death, in a way that calls to mind the brutally frank autopsy reports of modern dead celebrities.

Today, human dissection is usually hidden from the public. This cloaking began in the 19th century, when, as Quigley writes, “The anatomists withdrew behind the doors of educational institutions, and the townspeople were not invited to join them.” These days dissections occur exclusively in a medical or forensic context, and the only corpses we see are on television. No longer is the public treated to theatrical displays of their own inner-workings, as they were in the days when Andreas Vesalius kept Renaissance audiences glued to their seats.

But there have been exceptions. In 2002, the controversial Gunter von Hagens – he of the plastinated corpses and Body Worlds exhibits – staged a ticketed dissection of the body of a 72-year-old man in London. The event drew considerable attention, and Hagens faced the threat of arrest even while wielding the scalpel. Yet the room was packed, proving that our appetites for dissection haven’t waned. Quigley includes an excellent photograph of the event, notable not for the pale cadaver about to be sliced apart, but for the front row of the audience, their faces horrified, bemused, and fascinated in turn. One woman crosses her hands over her chest in protection, clutching her check and beginning to grimace. Next to her, an older gentleman folds his wrists behind his elbows and leans back as if to say “show me what you got.” Von Hagens himself is at the forefront of the image, clad in a black fedora -- his nod to Rembrandt’s “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp,” which hangs on the wall above him.

In fact, Quigley takes pains to show us how conscious Von Hagens – the most famous modern anatomist -- is of his historical lineage. (Many of his most famous pieces, such as his flayed horse and rider, quote directly from the work of earlier anatomists such as Fragonard.) This is where the book shines: Quigley has stitched together a family tree of public anatomists who contributed to our understanding of the body, but whose work often remains hidden like the organs beneath our skin. Dissection on Display is recommended reading for anyone with a healthy sense of curiosity, morbid or otherwise, about what used to happen when we were allowed to watch.

The writer of this post, Bess Lovejoy, is a writer, editor, and researcher based in
Seattle. Her book Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses
is coming out March 2013. You can find out more about her at her website besslovejoy.com." To find out more--or to purchase a copy of this book--click here.

Image: The Anatomy lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, Remrandt van Rijn, 1632; found on Wikipedia. According to Quigley, the dissection was performed in Leiden’s
anatomical theatre, and included an audience of townspeople that were
left out of the painting. Instead, Rembrandt was paid to include
surgeons who may or may not have actually been there.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

I am very excited about "Dissection as Studio Practice," a class taking place next Monday, July 23, at Observatory. Taught by artist Laura Splan, the class will begin with an illustrated survey of the use of notions of "dissection" in contemporary art practice; these principles will then be applied to in-class projects which include the dissection of your very own anatomical specimens (i.e. frog, sheep brain, cow eye). This class is open to all expernience levels, and participants are invited to bring additional materials, objects
and artifacts that will inspire their “dissective” inclinations.

We had a wonderful time in the last iteration of this class, as you can see from the photos above. Full description of the class follows. Class size is limited; if interested, be sure to RSVP via email to morbidanatomy[at]gmail.com. You can see more of Laura Splan's work by clicking here. Hope very much to see you there!

This class will survey the use of dissection in contemporary art
practice through an illustrated lecture, specimen dissections, and
studio time for individual and collaborative projects. We will examine
the conceptual and cultural significance of cutting, excavating,
disassembling, labeling, observing and displaying “bodies.” The lecture
will present a brief history of dissection as well as work by
contemporary artists exploring imagery, tropes and methods of
dissection. The collaborative and individual art projects will be fun
and lively hands on explorations of the meaning of dissection in a work
of art. Each student will receive a complete specimen dissection kit
(i.e. frog, sheep brain, cow eye) to create a self-directed dissection
project with. Participants should bring additional materials, objects
and artifacts that will inspire their “dissective” inclinations.
Additional supplies will be provided by the instructor to stimulate
your creativity. No prior art training is required. Everyone is welcome.

Laura Splan
is a Brooklyn based visual artist. Her mixed media work explores
historical and cultural ambivalence towards the human body. She was a
Visiting Lecturer at Stanford University where she taught “Art and
Biology”. She has been a Visiting Artist at the New York Academy of
Sciences, California College of Art, San Francisco Art Institute,
Maryland Institute College of Art, and Cal Arts. Her artwork was
recently commissioned by the CDC Foundation. She curates the visual
portal DomesticatedViscera.com. Images of her artwork can be found on
her website: LauraSplan.com. You can find out more here. Feel free to contact Laura through her website with any questions about the class by clicking here. You can see photos from the last class by clicking here.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Just a friendly reminder: if you are looking for a way to celebrate this upcoming Friday the 13th--and who isn't, really?--why not come down to Observatory for a special event: a highly illustrated and subjective tour of medical museums of the Western World by Morbid Anatomy's Joanna Ebenstein, followed by music and delicious artisanal cocktails compliments of Friese Undine?

Since 2005, artist, independent scholar and Morbid Anatomist Joanna Ebenstein has travelled the world seeking out--and photographing whenever possible--the most fascinating, curious, and overlooked medical collections and wunderkammern, backstage and front, private and public. In the process, she has amassed not only an astounding collection of images but also a great deal of knowledge about the history and cultural context of these fascinating and uncanny artifacts.

This Friday the Thirteenth, please join us for a heavily illustrated lecture based on this research, followed by a thematic afterparty. In her lecture "﻿Anatomical Venuses, The Slashed Beauty, and Fetuses Dancing a Jig," Ebenstein will lead you on a highly-illustrated tour of medical museums and introduce you to many of their most curious and enigmatic denizens, including the Anatomical Venus, the Slashed Beauty, the allegorical fetal skeleton tableau (as seen above), the flayed horseman of the apocalypse, and three fetuses dancing a jig. Ebenstein will contextualize these artifacts via a discussion of the history of medical museums and modeling, a survey of great artists of the genre, and an examination of other death-related arts and amusements which made up the cultural landscape at the time that these objects were originally created, collected, and exhibited. Following, please stick around for an afterparty featuring thematic tunes and inventive artisanal cocktails complements of the omni-talented Friese Undine.

Joanna Ebenstein is a multi-disciplinary artist with an academic background in intellectual history. She runs the Morbid Anatomy blog and related open-to-the-public Brooklyn-based Morbid Anatomy Library. She is also the founding member of Observatory, a Brooklyn based arts and events space devoted to the revival of the 18th century notions of the dilettante and rational amusements. Her recent work—which includes photography, curation, installation, blogging, museum consulting, lecturing and writing—centers on anatomical museums and their artifacts, collectors and collecting, curiosities and marvels, 18th and 19th Century natural history and, as the subtitle of her blog states, “surveying the interstices of art and medicine, death and culture.” She has lectured at a variety of popular and academic venues, and her work has been shown and published internationally; she is the current Coney Island Musuem artist in resident, and recent solo exhibitions include The Secret Museum and Anatomical Theatre. You can find out more at her at her website astropop.com and her blog Morbid Anatomy; you can view much of her photography work by clicking here. She can be reached at morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Episode 2, Season 2 of The Midnight Archive--that wonderful web-based documentary series centered around Brooklyn'sObservatory--has
just gone live! Entitled "Morbid Anatomy: Exploring the Art of Death," it features my work with Morbid Anatomy, The Morbid Anatomy Library and the Morbid Anatomy Presents series at Observatory, as well as my work photographing curious collections--public and private, front stage and back--around the world.

To
watch the episode, simply press play in the viewer above. More on the episode, in the words of director/creator Ronni Thomas:

It is an honor to present in this episode my friend and a huge inspiration to me - Joanna Ebenstein whose Morbid Anatomy blog (morbidanatomy.blogspot.com) is sort of the online Bible of the macabre and the sublime (making Mademoiselle Ebenstein - as i call her - the Patron Saint of Odd). Here she discusses the thinking behind her research, her views on death and beauty and the institution she has created. If you are not already a huge fan - make sure to visit morbidanatomy.blogspot.com AND check out more amazing photography from our girl at astropop.com/secretmuseum and astropop.com/anatomical

For
more on the series, to see any of the episodes, or to sign up for the
mailing list and thus be alerted to future uploads, visit The Midnight
Archive website by clicking here. You can also "like" it on Facebook--and be alerted in this way--by clicking here. If you are interested in medical museums and their curious denezins, be sure to stop by Friday night to grab a drink and see my
lecture "Anatomical Venuses, The Slashed Beauty, and Fetuses Dancing a
Jig" at Observatory this Friday; more on that can be found here.

For those of you who were unable to make it--or who want to relive it in all its glory--journalist Jed Lepinski has written a lovely recap and review of the event for Capital New York, which you can read in its entirety by clicking here. Photos above are taken by my cousin Sklyer Fox, good friend and supporter Christine Colby, and MC and verbal pyrotechnic Mark Dery. You can see more photos by clicking here, here and here.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Learn to organize with Oliver Burkeman of London's Guardian! Join Morbid Anatomy for a special Friday the 13th virtual tour of medical museums of the Western World followed by music and cocktails! Morbid Anatomy Presents this week and beyond at Observatory:

Organization and Productivity for Creative Types with Oliver Burkeman of The Guardian
Date: Thursday, July 12
Time: 8:00
Admission: $10
Produced by Morbid Anatomy

Do you hunger to climb the corporate ladder with ruthless
efficiency, leaving your rivals in the dust as you pursue your
relentless quest for wealth and power? Hopefully not, but that doesn’t
mean you can’t borrow some tactics from such people and apply them to
your own ends; to that end, this talk– by Oliver Burkeman, compulsive
to-do-list-maker and journalist for London’s Guardian–will
teach creatives, freelancers, and artists how to plan and manage
multiple projects, better plan their time, and, in general, feel less
overwhelmed by juggling a variety of projects at one time.

Burkeman has spent much of the last few years researching and
reporting on self-help culture, including the fascinating history of
the “how to succeed” publishing genre, and motivational gurus from Dale
Carnegie to Stephen Covey, and sifting the wheat from the chaff.
(There’s a lot of chaff.) Drawing on this research, this talk will
explore some fundamental principles of getting organized, managing
multiple projects, overcoming procrastination, time management, and
being both more productive and less stressed in the kinds of sprawling
artistic/creative/freelance lives that don’t get much attention in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
No cringe-inducing motivational speeches will be given; no Magic
Systems for Instant Success will be promoted. Instead, we’ll plunder
from the world of the grinning gurus the bits that actually work – so
that you’ll leave equipped with a toolkit of immediately usable ways to
do the stuff you’re already doing, and the projects you’re planning,
with greater efficiency and ease.

Please note: This event is a lecture adaptation of a recent popular Observatory class by the same name.

Since 2005, artist, independent scholar and Morbid Anatomist
Joanna Ebenstein has travelled the world seeking out--and photographing
whenever possible--the most fascinating, curious, and overlooked
medical collections and wunderkammern, backstage and front, private and
public. In the process, she has amassed not only an astounding
collection of images but also a great deal of knowledge about the
history and cultural context of these fascinating and uncanny artifacts.

This Friday the Thirteenth, please join us for a heavily illustrated
lecture based on this research, followed by a thematic afterparty. In
her lecture "﻿Anatomical Venuses, The Slashed Beauty, and Fetuses
Dancing a Jig," Ebenstein will lead you on a highly-illustrated tour of
medical museums and introduce you to many of their most curious and
enigmatic denizens, including the Anatomical Venus, the Slashed Beauty,
the allegorical fetal skeleton tableau (as seen above), the flayed
horseman of the apocalypse, and three fetuses dancing a jig. Ebenstein
will contextualize these artifacts via a discussion of the history of
medical museums and modeling, a survey of great artists of the genre,
and an examination of other death-related arts and amusements which
made up the cultural landscape at the time that these objects were
originally created, collected, and exhibited. Following, please stick
around for an afterparty featuring thematic tunes and inventive
artisanal cocktails complements of the omni-talented Friese Undine.

Joanna Ebenstein is a multi-disciplinary artist with an academic background in intellectual history. She runs the Morbid Anatomy blog and related open-to-the-public Brooklyn-based Morbid Anatomy Library. She is also the founding member of Observatory,
a Brooklyn based arts and events space devoted to the revival of the
18th century notions of the dilettante and rational amusements. Her
recent work—which includes photography, curation, installation,
blogging, museum consulting, lecturing and writing—centers on
anatomical museums and their artifacts, collectors and collecting,
curiosities and marvels, 18th and 19th Century natural history and, as
the subtitle of her blog states, “surveying the interstices of art and
medicine, death and culture.” She has lectured at a variety of popular
and academic venues, and her work has been shown and published
internationally; she is the current Coney Island Musuem artist in resident, and recent solo exhibitions include The Secret Museum and Anatomical Theatre. You can find out more at her at her website astropop.com and her blog Morbid Anatomy; you can view much of her photography work by clicking here. She can be reached at morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com.

I am very excited to announce a few open slots in this
Saturday's long sold-out Anthropomorphic Insect Shadowbox Workshop with
Former AMNH Senior Insect Preparator Daisy Tainton, part of The Morbid Anatomy Art Academy at Observatory. Full details for the class follow; send an email to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com to be added to class list. First come, first served!

Anthropomorphic Insect Shadowbox Workshop with Former AMNH Senior Insect Preparator Daisy TaintonWith Daisy Tainton, Former Senior Insect Preparator at the American Museum of Natural History
Date: This Saturday, July 7
Time: 1 - 4 PM
Admission: $65***Must RSVP to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com to be added to class list
This class is part of The Morbid Anatomy Art Academy

Rhinoceros beetles: nature's tiny giants. Adorable, with their giant
heads and tiny legs, and wonderful antler-like protrusions. If you
think they would be even more adorable drinking tiny beers and
holding tiny fishing poles, we have the perfect class for you! In
today's workshop, students will learn to make--and leave with their
own!--shadowbox dioramas featuring carefully positioned beetles doing
nearly anything you can imagine. An assortment of miniature furniture
and foods will be made available to decorate your habitat, but students
are strongly encouraged to bring any dollhouse props they would like to
use. 1:12 scale is generally best.

Daisy Taintonwas
formerly Senior Insect Preparator at the American Museum of Natural
History, and has been working with insects professionally for several
years. Eventually her fascination with insects and love of Japanese
miniature food items naturally came together, resulting in cute and
ridiculous museum-inspired yet utterly unrealistic dioramas. Beetles at
the dentist? Beetles eating pie and knitting sweaters? Even beetles on
the toilet? Why not?

You can find out more about this class here, and more about The Morbid Anatomy Art Academy by clicking here.